The government announced yesterday that the HS2 rail-link between Birmingham and London is to go ahead at a cost of £33billion. 65% of the responses to a consultation mentioned property, and at Manse & Garret Property Search we too are interested to see what the affect will be on property prices in London, Birmingham and along the route.

The link is expected to cut journey times between London and Birmingham by 30 minutes. Commuters who traverse this route will benefit from shorter journey times but it is the disruption during construction and the on-going noise created by trains travelling at speeds of up to 225mph in 2026 that is causing concern for property owners.  A Department of Transport Report from 2009 predicted that 21,300 households would experience an increase in rail noise, which in our experience is not what people look for when buying a house.

If your house is under the route then you can expect to receive a compulsory purchase order from the government, however not until 2015. The government has promised that property will be purchased based on the open-market value, “as if unaffected” by the scheme. Owners will also receive a home loss payment of 10% of the property’s value and reasonable costs will be paid. The problem with this is that many of the affected areas have already experienced a decline in house prices because the scheme has been years in the making and it is not clear if these home owners will be bought out at pre-HS2 prices.

Perhaps those in a worse position are those whose homes will not be considered for compulsory purchase, but who will be affected by the noise.  The government says that 3,100 properties will experience a “noticeable” increase in noise. Homeowners will be able to claim for any loss of value on their property resulting from noise, vibration or artificial lighting, but only once the railway has been open for a year. There is no amount of secondary glazing or sound proofing that can help you to enjoy your garden in peace and quiet and it is these homeowners who may have trouble selling their properties even at lower prices. The good and influential people of Primrose Hill were successful in making enough of a fuss so that the proposed route under Primrose Hill was changed so that they would not be negatively affected by vibration from the trains. Unfortunately the good people of Belsize Park have not been so lucky, Adelaide Road, Fellows Road and Eton Avenue are now likely to be affected instead.

What will happen to property prices in Birmingham and London? The value of property in Birmingham is likely to increase, as demand for property in Birmingham increases, becoming more attractive to those who may not have considered commuting this distance before now. As for London, will an extra rail-link into Euston boost property prices in this area? It’s unlikely that there will be that much of an increase; Birmingham is not as enticing a location as Paris and so proximity to this rail-link is unlikely to be at the top of many property buyers’ wish lists.

Technorati Tags: Birmingham, high speed 2, House Prices, House prices in London, HS2, London Buyer's Agents, Primrose Hill

Tags: Birmingham, high speed 2, House Prices, House prices in London, HS2, London Buyer's Agents, Primrose Hill

Sometimes I wonder if we do the right thing extolling the virtues of prime central London real estate to risk averse overseas buyers looking for good capital appreciation and a safe haven for their hard-earned cash.  As London Buyers Agents, we do most of our business in prime established areas but we also buy in other areas of London including Hackney, Islington, Greenwich and Blackheath and others.

City buyers like Islington and parts of Hackney for the 20 minute commute to Bank.  Canary Wharf workers like Greenwich and Blackheath for similar reasons.  One of our Clients can get from his front door to his desk in 17 minutes.  But all of these areas were hit in the downturn and in our view Islington agents were the first to lose face back in 2007 when Lehman Brothers went down and Northern Rock followed.  So we tend to suggest prime areas, which are likely to weather future storms much better.  And are relatively immune to rioting.

As I write, the skirmishes in Hackney look relatively minor but this London Buyers Agent is under no illusions that we may see a different picture in the morning.  During the first six months of the year, Hackney house prices had increased by 4.1%, the third highest house price rise by borough across London according to the Land Registry.

Islington has also been a winner to date, with prices rising 5.5% year on year, but there was rioting there too at the weekend and now we hear Highbury resident BoJo is cutting short his holiday and  coming home to save the day.

Likewise, Lewisham which incorporates a small part of Blackheath and is the closest DLR to some of the lovely heath facing properties in West Blackheath, has seen violence today.  Property prices overall in the borough had increased by 3.2% year on year to June, but this rioting underlines the issues about the area.  One of our Clients who settled in Greenwich was considering moving to Lewisham at one point.  We strongly suggested they settle at least initially in Greenwich or Blackheath, which was admittedly more expensive, but what price do you put on safety?

I bet they are grateful today that they listened to our advice and although they paid more than they wanted to, we negotiated a significant proportion off the rent.

So I don’t regret being firm about areas with Clients.  Our job as London Buyers Agents is to find perfect properties on and off-market, negotiate great deals for our Clients and make sure they are buying in the right area for them in the first place.  London is a series of villages and although confidence and house prices in affected boroughs will almost certainly be hit, there is sure to be the right village for you.

Technorati Tags: blackheath, Hackney house price rises, Hackney house prices, hackney riots, House Prices, Islington house prices, Islington riots and house prices, islinton riots, lewisham house prices, lewisham riots, London riots

Tags: blackheath, Hackney house price rises, Hackney house prices, hackney riots, House Prices, Islington house prices, Islington riots and house prices, islinton riots, lewisham house prices, lewisham riots, London riots

It will be no surprise to London Property Buyers Agents that The Royal Borough and Fulham and Hammersmith are continuing to lead the charge with rising property prices according to the latest figures from the Land Registry.  Property prices in the two boroughs have increased by 6.6% and 6.4% respectively this year, followed  closely by city favourite, Islington with an average 5.5% rise year on year.

Other areas to have performed well during the first six months of the year include Hackney, where prices have increased by 4.1% year to date and where prices rose by 1.8% in June, second only to Harrow where they rose by 2.4% in the same month.  Westminster, home to Mayfair and parts of Belgravia, Marylebone and Bayswater rose 3.4% year on year, although the best properties have had a good year if priced well.

In our capacity as prime London Buyers Agents, we’ve been in several sealed bid situations this year so far as prime property continues to be in short supply and so well-priced property has sold well during the first half of the year.  We always have searches in Mayfair and there has been a real dearth of good flats this year, apart from the odd portfolio sale, so the few deals we have done here have been off-market.

Now we are in holiday season, the market feels softer, as vendors and buyers retire to their second homes for the summer, but people have to live somewhere and although transactions are down overall year on year the numbers of prime properties changing hands in London is still up on last year.  Interestingly, the number of properties sold in London for over £2million doubled between April 2010 and April 2011 from 71 to 141.  I would be very interested to know how many of those completed before April 5th, when the new 5% stamp duty came into force for properties over £1million.  If the experience of this London Property Buyers Agent is anything to go by, quite alot, I would imagine!

All statistics provided by the Land Registry House Price Index July 28th